# How to avoid Gmail's spam folder > Gmail filters on authentication, sender reputation, and recipient engagement. Authenticate your domain, keep complaints low, and send mail people want. Gmail decides placement primarily from three signals: **is the mail authenticated** (does it really come from where it claims), **what is your sending reputation** (how have recipients reacted to your past mail), and **does this specific message look wanted** (engagement, content, list hygiene). Nothing you do guarantees the inbox, but the items below are the levers that actually move Gmail placement. Work through them in order — authentication first, because Gmail now **requires** it for bulk senders. ## 1. Authenticate the domain (non-negotiable) Since February 2024, Gmail requires every bulk sender (roughly 5,000+ messages/day to Gmail) to pass **SPF and DKIM**, publish a **DMARC** policy, and align the visible `From` domain with the authenticated domain. MailBlastr generates all of these records when you add a domain — you just publish them at your DNS provider. - **SPF** — authorizes MailBlastr to send for your domain. Without it Gmail can't confirm the path the mail took. - **DKIM** — cryptographically signs each message so Gmail can verify it wasn't altered and really came from you. MailBlastr signs with your domain's DKIM keys. - **DMARC** — tells Gmail what to do when SPF/DKIM fail, and is the policy that ties everything together. Start at `p=none` to monitor, then tighten to `p=quarantine` or `p=reject` once your reports are clean. > **Warning:** A domain that is **Verified** in MailBlastr has passed SPF and DKIM, but DMARC is a record *you* publish and choose the policy for. Add a DMARC record even if it's only `p=none` — Gmail expects to find one. See [DNS records](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/domains/dns). ## 2. Keep your complaint rate very low Gmail wants spam complaints (people hitting *Report spam*) kept under **0.3%**, and ideally under **0.1%**. Brushing 0.3% repeatedly is the single fastest way to start landing in spam — and once reputation drops, it recovers slowly. - Only mail people who **asked** to hear from you — see [What counts as email consent?](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/kb/consent). - Make the **unsubscribe obvious**. A visible opt-out is what stops an annoyed recipient from hitting *Report spam* instead. - Honor opt-outs immediately. MailBlastr auto-suppresses anyone who complains — see [Why is an address on my suppression list?](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/kb/suppression-list). ## 3. Offer one-click unsubscribe Gmail requires bulk senders to support **one-click unsubscribe** (RFC 8058: a `List-Unsubscribe` header plus `List-Unsubscribe-Post`). MailBlastr campaigns add this header **and** a per-contact unsubscribe link in the body automatically, so a Gmail recipient can opt out with the native *Unsubscribe* button next to your name. See [Should I add an unsubscribe link?](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/kb/unsubscribe-link). ## 4. Send a consistent, gradually growing volume Gmail's reputation model dislikes spikes. A brand-new domain that suddenly sends 50,000 messages looks exactly like a spammer who just registered a throwaway domain. Ramp up gradually and keep your daily volume steady. - New domain or big increase in volume? Warm up first — see the [warm-up guide](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/kb/warm-up). - Avoid all-at-once blasts after long silence; reputation decays when you go quiet, then a sudden burst looks suspicious. ## 5. Legitimize your domain Gmail uses your domain to figure out who you are, so the domain you send from should match the domain that hosts your website. If you send from `@example.com` but your site lives at `example.net`, Gmail can't use your site to corroborate that you're a real business. This matters most for **new** domains with no history. - Host your website on the same domain you send from — especially for a brand-new sending domain. - Periodically check whether your domain is flagged with **[Google Safe Browsing](https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search)** so you catch a bad classification early. - Use **dedicated sending addresses per stream** so Gmail can tab your mail correctly: e.g. `notifications@` for transactional and `updates@` for marketing. A separate address per type gives Gmail a clearer signal of what each stream is. - If your brand runs an **affiliate program**, monitor affiliates and drop any that spam — their behavior can taint your domain by association. ## 6. Write mail that looks like real mail - Balance text and images — an email that is **one big image** with almost no text is a classic spam pattern. - **Less is more, and plain text over heavy HTML.** Simpler, succinct content scores better than bloated marketing HTML. - Use a real, reply-able `From` and a `Reply-To` you monitor; `noreply@` mailboxes that bounce replies hurt trust. - Avoid spammy subject lines (ALL CAPS, "FREE!!!", excessive emoji) and link shorteners that hide the real destination. - Keep your link domains consistent with your sending domain where you can; brand-new or mismatched link domains look riskier. Nothing should be **hidden or manipulative** in the body. ## 7. Watch the right signals Use **[Google Postmaster Tools](https://postmaster.google.com)** to see your domain/IP reputation, spam rate, and authentication results directly from Gmail. Inside MailBlastr, watch bounces, complaints, and opens in your [logs](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/logs/overview) — and remember that opens are an imperfect signal (Gmail's image proxy and corporate scanners both fetch the tracking pixel). > **Note:** MailBlastr counts a Gmail open only when Gmail's image proxy fetches the pixel on display, and ignores delivery-time prefetches and corporate security scanners — so your open rate reflects humans, not gateways. > **Warning:** Note that open- and click-**tracking** can itself nudge mail toward the Promotions tab or spam, because trackers are a pattern Gmail associates with promotional and spam senders. For transactional streams where placement matters most, consider sending without tracking. See [Why aren't my open rates accurate?](https://www.mailblastr.com/docs/kb/open-rates-accuracy).